William p



rxussmaul. lgcnpfrirmms w, f lm# f uiten gieten nient ffice.

IMPROVEMENT In earner contours.

v illu .tlgtinh retener: tuin these @clins mitnimmt stringent rf licsame.

To ALL wHoM 1T MAY :conocen:

Be it known that I, WILLMM F. KUSSMAUL, of the city und county ofBaltimore, und Stute of Maryland,

have invented c new sind improved Lock for Fire/nuns g and I do herebydeclare the following to be o i'uil, clear, l

' and exact descriptionof the same, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing, forming port ni' this specil iicution, und inwhich- Figure I is a. side elevation o my look, showing the inside of'the same. Figure 2 is en elevation, showing the outside of the lock.Similar letters oi' reference indicate corresponding parts in the `twofigures.

In this invention u spring-stopcis provided, which catches under oshoulder oi' the hammer, and holds it up from the cap when the gun isnot in use. When the gun is cocked the spring-step 'automaticallyretires,l and leaves the hammer to descend upon the ecp.

The object of this invention is to provide e. menne` by `which thedischarge of a. gun, from :my accidentel violence to its'hummer when notcocked, muy bo prevented.

In the drawings, the lock of the common Springfield muskot is shown, inwhich. A represents the hammer, B the muinuspring, C the sere, und D thenipple und tube. liliyimprovement consists in attaching to n gun-lockthe parts E und I?, thcicrmer having a heed, H, working through c. holeiu the fece-plete oi' the loe-lc, against which the shoulder G, eut inthe front side of the hummer, 'rests when thc gun is not cocked. Thepuri: repre sented by E is simply a stout spring, fastened to the insideof the faceplate nt I, und having the head H nt its other extremity, theheed having the shape of u stout pin er bolt projecting through n 'noiein the fncc-pinte when the spring@ is unhent. The part represented by Fis c. little plete, with its edges und upper end hevellcd, slidingverticellr in :'hed in the inside of the fuceplnte, into which it isdove-tailed, in'such u manner that its upper hcicllcd extremity muy beslid under the spring E, end bend it so :is to withdraw the heed orbolt; il. The vertical pluie F hes n notch in its aille, through whichpasses the main-spring Ii, When the gun is cocked the mnin-spring is ofcourse bent, and the slide F, by the action of the mein-spring pressingupward against the shoulder of thcnotch just referred to, is thrustup'under the spring E, withdrawing the holt II, und leaving the outsideof the face-plate clcer of all obstructions to the descending hammer.When the hummer falls, the mainspring is of course unbent again, und asit descends it withdraws the slide F from behind the spring E, leavingthe bolt II to project again through the foce-plate. This, it inobvious, would prevent the descent ci the hnmmer upon the cai-p, werenot the boit H so situated that before the slide F is withdrawn, so n'sto liberate the spring E, 4the shoulder of the hnmmcrntGhns alreadypartially covered the npcrtnrc in which the bolt Il moves, und preventedthc latter from projecting beyond tho fncplntc. As the gun is againcocked, the moment the shoulder G passes the hole in which the boltmoves, the bolt isi-released and, projects through the hole, preventingthe felling of the hummer from any point short of' the full cock." Asthe shoulder G is not in existence upon other gun-hammers than mine, Icut away the front side of ordinary hammers tn form it, ns shown in thedrawings. My invention renders it impossible that the hammer-.shouldexplode the. ecp, unless when the gun is cocked for the purpose. Itinches no difference which way any accidentel force muy be applied toit. l'

`the force is applied directly towards the cop, itis expended upon thebolt H nt once; ii' applied in the opposite direction, it either cocksthe gun, or, felling short of thnt,'lec.ves the hummer to full bool:upon the still projectin bolt. g Having thus described my invention,what I claim es new, und desire to secure by Letters Potent, i-

' The spring E, having the bolt Il, in combination with the .vorticnlslide F, the main-spring B, e d tho shoulder G, substantially es and forthe purpose specified.

To the above specification of my improvement I hevesigned my hund this13th dey of Muy, 186i.

WM. F. KUesMAUL Witnesses:

JAMES H. (kunnen NATHANK. Ennswonrm

